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If you read most articles about the world of job seeking, hiring
and employment these days, it all sounds so easy. Countless
online-business publications snare readers with headlines like “5
things you shouldn’t eat before a job interview” or “How to tell
if applicants are lying about their last job” (or even the
headline to this article). These litanies of tips and tricks play
right into the notion that effort isn’t really required. That
somehow just by studying the game, you can avoid the traps and
master the tricks. That you can find the job or employee of your
dreams and do it with little true investment.

Most job searchers believe that a few key adjustments to a
one-page resume, submitted
to the best job board and optimized to catch eyes is all it
takes. Hit send and hope for the best. Employers too buy into the
promise of shortcuts and immediate results. As if it’s quick and
simple to find the next man up when someone goes down. As if the
employment landscape is a plug-and-play world of new faces
claimed on an as-needed basis.

It’s maddening, short-sighted and ironically, it could be a cause
of the job crisis in this country. While there are some 10.2 million
unemployed in the US, there are also some 4 million open
jobs in our country. What we have is a lack of thoughtful
pursuit of both quality employees and desirable career
opportunities. Because in the torrent of tips and tricks, job
seekers rarely get substantive advice on how to connect, engage
and relate to an industry or career, let alone build the kind of
personal brand that brings employers knocking.

Closing the employment gap requires a radical reimagining of how
to navigate the job market. Many employers are less interested in
the employment history you’ve polished up on your resume and more
eager to see what you can do for them today. Job seekers must
work hard to prove that they can offer true value for their
industry, their community and their future employer by developing
content that’s informative, enlightening, even entertaining. By
doing so, they show firsthand the talents and abilities they
could bring to the job rather than simply telling employers about
them through a resume.

The path forward will be paved by the kind of disruptive change
that we’ve seen in the entertainment industry over the past few
years, as movies and broadcast TV have been threatened by upstart
Netflix.

Once the mail-order version of Blockbuster (without the late fees
or the annoying burden of returning a DVD the day after viewing),
Netflix today represents 31.6 percent of downstream U.S. Internet
traffic. And it’s solidifying viewer loyalty by doing the
difficult task of creating its own content. Free from the
expectations of the industry, Netflix is producing its own
Emmy-award
winning program, House of Cards, and the highly
popular Orange is the New Black. And they are serving it
up in an all-you-can-eat, binge-watching fashion that audiences
love to coagulate around during a rainy Saturday or a day off
from work.

Netflix’s efforts will forever be linked to the moment in time
when viewers shifted their habits toward streaming video content
and away from traditional outlets. But more importantly, the
company’s knockout TV shows add a new, enticing dimension to its
brand while proving to viewers that it’s as creative and artful
as the best in the business. It committed time and energy to the
work of developing great stories. This is the kind of effort that
draws viewers in droves, and one Netflix’s competitors are now
scrambling to duplicate.

The job market is primed for a similar disruption, and to some
extent, it’s already begun. Candidates are advancing their career
opportunities by doing the hard work of creating standout content
and singular brands that truly capture attention, loyalty and
opportunity. And that’s the secret to getting that dream job: Be
like Netflix and create content tailored to your audience to
prove you’re the ideal candidate.

That’s exactly what comedian Jack Moore did. Aspiring to be a
sitcom and screenplay writer, he demonstrated his talent through
the popular Modern Seinfeld Twitter feed, which offers
storylines for what George, Jerry, Elaine and Kramer would be
up to in today’s world. His months of artful execution have
led him to his dream job as a screenwriter.

He shattered the confines of the old resume-centric world of job
searching by taking the focus off of himself -- the heart of any
resume -- and homing in on his audience. Instead of talking about
his skills, he used them. He buckled down and proved he could do
the job without being asked and made sure potential future
employers would take notice. His efforts parallel those of
Netflix, which continues to produce its creative best to box out
traditional channels and win wider audiences.

The kind of disruption and success Netflix has achieved -- and
the kind the job market sorely needs -- isn’t easy and can’t be
neatly summarized in a tip or trick. Because it’s no trick. It’s
the sum total of thought, effort and dedication. It’s a new
ideology guiding the way job seekers think about their careers
and transforming the way employers search for talent.